An efficient, largely piscivorous, predator with highly protrusible mouthparts. In the aquarium, juveniles can be offered chironomid larvae (bloodworm), small earthworms, chopped prawn, and suchlike, while adults will accept strips of fish flesh, whole prawns, mussels, live river shrimp, larger earthworms, etc. Older individuals do not require feeding on a daily basis, with 2-3 times per week sufficient.

The massive decline in wild populations, hypothesised to be in excess of 90% since the mid-1980s, is thought to have been caused by a variety of factors, including habitat alteration due to construction of dams and other infrastructure, removal of riparian vegetation, and urban pollution, plus over fishing for both human consumption and the aquarium trade.

Known from the lower Mekong River basin in Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam, plus tributaries of the Chao Phraya watershed in central Thailand, and drainages between the Chao Phraya and Mekong in eastern Thailand.

Type locality is ‘Nam-Mun at Korat, 135 miles northeast of Bangkok, Thailand’.

This species can be distinguished from congeners by the following combination of characters: body depth fits 2.5-2.7 times in SL; 28-31 +2-3 lateral line scales; 14-16 circumpeduncular scale rows; 5-5½ scale rows between the lateral line and dorsal-fin origin; a triangular distal blotch on the dorsal-fin; a few body scales with crescent-shaped black edges; a thin dark margin on the dorsal-fin, posterior to the distal blotch; a dark posterior margin on the caudal-fin; normally a single pair of rudimentary barbels present.

Endemic to the middle and lower Mekong River system in Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Its known range extends from Chiang Rai province, Thailand in the north to Kratie province, Cambodia in the south, and it occurs in several important tributary systems including the Sesan, Srepok, and Tonlé Sap.

Type locality is ‘Mekong River at Kemarat, Thailand’.

It is thought to have been extirpated from the Chao Phraya and Mae Klong rivers, Lake Songkhla, and the entire island of Java due to a variety of anthropogenic factors, and the Mekong populations have also been drastically reduced. In particular, it is sensitive to pollution and gillnetting, and is heavily overfished.

There is a fish of unknown geographical origin which matches the majority of diagnostic features for L. setigerum with the exception that the dark lateral stripe is absent in the anterior portion of the body and is not composed of interconnected spots. It is relatively common in the aquarium trade and included here as L. cf. setigerum until a confirmed identity is established.

L. bleekeri is most-easily distinguished from the congener L. setigerum, with which it is frequently confused, by absence (vs. presence) of a series of black spots on the lateral line scales.

Lobocheilos species are specialised grazers of periphyton, benthic algae, and other organisms which grow attached to rocks and other solid surfaces, and they typically leave visible scrape marks in places where they have been feeding.

They are by no means herbivorous and should be offered meaty foods such as live or frozen chironomid larvae (bloodworm), Tubifex, Artemia, chopped prawn, etc., along with good quality, sinking dried products, at lea…

The majority of Lobocheilos species are endemic to the Greater Sunda Islands of Borneo, Sumatra, and Java, and are uncommon in the aquarium trade, but the widespread Indochinese taxa L. melanotaenia and L. rhabdoura are available on a sporadic basis.

L. melanotaenia can be distinguished from L. rhabdoura by the following comb…